G-Rod will order state to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2010

Joining a burgeoning movement to address global warming, Gov. Blagojevich on Thursday will order state government to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade.

The election-year plan will require state vehicles and buildings to be cleaner and more energy efficient. But critics noted that unlike a new California law, the initiative fails to impose restrictions on private vehicles and coal-fired power plants, the largest sources of heat-trapping carbon dioxide.

If Illinois fails to cut emissions by 6 percent by 2010, taxpayers will make up the difference by purchasing credits from the Chicago Climate Exchange, a voluntary market where corporations and governments trade the right to emit greenhouse gases.

Blagojevich's top aides said the state is attempting to lead by example. The governor also is creating a panel of experts who will recommend ways to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from larger polluters, though it is far from certain whether the result will be anything like California's ambitious effort.

Steve Frenkel, Blagojevich's director of policy development, said the state plans to buy more cars and trucks that can run on a high blend of ethanol, the corn-based fuel that produces slightly less carbon dioxide than gasoline.

A campaign spokesman for Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, Blagojevich's opponent in the Nov. 7 election, called the plan a "sensible idea" but questioned the governor's timing.

Illinois is one of the nation's leading sources of carbon dioxide. The state's coal-fired power plants churned more than 105 million tons of the gas into the atmosphere last year, according to federal records. Only five other states released more.